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August 16, 2016

Photo courtesy of Seattle Cider Company

Cider Can(didates) for Summer Adventuring

By: Christian Conahan

Summer is a time of friends, fun and cold booze. If it’s hiking, boating, picnicking, going to the tailgate or getting outdoors in any other way, cider is the most refreshing libation to be enjoyed when parched. When traveling, glass bottles can be a bit bulky and loud, so we’ve found some ciders which are perfect can[didates] to throw into a bag and bring adventuring.

Seattle Cider Co., out of Seattle, Washington, has a dry, a semi-sweet and a citrus hard cider, all canned, all 6.5 percent ABV. The desired product can easily be thrown into a backpack with a few other cans which won’t shatter. One of the top sellers, the Dry, is a fruitful yet acidic sip perfect for needed refreshment and ballpark enjoyment.

Uncle John’s Hard Cider in St. Johns, Michigan, has an expansive list of canned ciders, from semi-dry to semi-sweet. Bitter, sweet, soft or tart, there’s a specific cider for that planned outdoor visit. But don’t think that you can only have the Atomic Apple Hard Cider when you’re hiking, because that isn’t the case. It’s up to you to find what’s right for that occasion.

Golden State Cider is straight out of Sebastopol, California, and produces its Mighty Dry Hard Cider, which has been the flagship cider blended of culinary apple varieties. Knowing that it wasn’t easy to find a dry session cider in the San Francisco Bay Area, they made a canned line so for ease of transportation, whether it be hiking, relaxing or just about whatever else you can do outside.

Rambling Route, out of Yakima, Washington, makes a mean hard pear cider that has just the right amount of tang to re-moisten that bone-dry mouth caused by the scorching summer heat. Being its second cider to the menu, all this pear flavor will keep you going until that mouth screams for another.

Hopworks Urban Brewery which resides in Portland, ORegon, has a delicious sip called HUB Hard Cider, a local creation of Northwest orchards with a tartness resembling Champagne’s acidity. When’s a better time to drink a light sip than directly right after some physical exercise?

Vander Mill’s traditional Hard Apple cider is the expanding cidery’s year-after-year perfected drink. Michigan grown apples balance the apples natural sweetness and acidity while bringing tastes you can’t find in any other apples. Light in color and body, this cider is a great one to throw into a picnic basket for a refreshing, crisp pick-me-up.

Bad Seed Hard Cider of Highland, New York, has brought its flagship Dry Hard Cider, which is the strongest, driest, hardest cider they make, to cans! Wanting to help you enjoy their ciders in more places than before when restricted by the glassware, cans are aplenty. Fermented with a Sauvignon Blanc wine yeast then conditioned in the very can, their cider resembles an apple Champagne.

Blake’s Hard Cider Co. in Detroit, Michigan, crafts a farmhouse cider called Cider Dayze which is perfect when enjoyed in the sunshine (and perfect for their Cider Dayze festival later this month). Dazed is what you will be when you realize how delicious the blend of bitter sweet and bitter sharp apples is when back sweetened with Blake’s award winning sweet cider recipe which has been around for decades.

Citizen Cider of Burlington, Vermont, has created the ultimate summer sip called The Lake Hopper. Saying that the lake connects us all, this cider is made from growers on both sides of Lake Champlain, Vermont and New York. With no added sugar, this sip will put right back in what you worked out of it. Dry hopped and made with one hundred percent local cascade hops, a kick back in shape is what you’ll get.